a small amount of inert ash, our process produces no waste. This truly is green technology.” Shapiro estimates, at full production, a four-reactor plant could recover approximately 1400 gallons of cedarwood oil per day along with 120 tons of torrefied wood. While the cost of a four-reactor plant is in the neighborhood of $28 million, it could realistically pay for itself in just over 21 months. “Right now we are exploring potential collaborations with a number of state universities in order to build a demonstration plant,” says Shapiro. “The ideal situation would be to use state funds matched with
32 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2007
federal funds to build a plant. In turn, the plant would become both a profit center and training tool for the university. We can continue to view eastern red cedar as a problem or we can take advantage of technology and turn it into an economic opportunity.” Founded in 1990, FRT is a research and development company specializing in pyrolytic processes. The company has been issued a patent on its process to recycle waste tires and has a patent pending on a new process to utilize high sulfur coal as a feedstock to generate value-added petroleum hydrocarbon liquids.
Agricultural land values continue to rise across the U.S. USAgNet arm real estate values, a measurement of the value of all land and buildings on farms, averaged $2,160 per acre on January 1, 2007, up 14 percent from 2006. The $2,160 per acre is a record high and $260 more than a year earlier. Both cropland and pasture values for 2007 are record highs. Cropland values rose by 13 percent to $2,700 per acre, up from the previous high of $2,390 in 2006. Pasture value rose by 16 percent to $1,160 per acre. The increase in farm real estate values continues to be driven by a combination of many factors, which include strong commodity prices and farm programs, outside investments, favorable interest rates and tax incentives, and continued commercial and residential development. Livestock prices and recreational use remain the predominant influences that increase pastureland values. Regional increases in the average value of farm real estate ranged from 9 percent in the Southeast region to 18 percent in the Mountain region. The highest farm real estate values remained in the Northeast region, where development pressure continued to push the average value to $5,000 per acre. The Northern Plains region had the lowest farm real estate value, at $961 per acre, up 14 percent from the previous year. The Lake region had the highest percentage increase in cropland value, up 15.7 percent from 2006. In the Corn Belt region cropland values rose 15 percent, to $3,720 per acre. The Southern Plains region also increased 15 percent from the previous year, to $1,330 per acre. The Pacific region had the highest average percentage increase in pasture value, 29 percent above 2006. In the Southern Plains and Mountain regions, which account for more than half of the pasture in the U.S., pasture values per acre increased 25 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
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